May 05, 2015

I'm worried about this. The Jerusalem Post has reported that Tony Blair has written to the court dealing with Ehud Olmert's sentencing for corruption. According to the Post' report Blair,

pleaded for the former Labor leader not to serve any jail time.

I'm not aware Olmert was a Labour leader of any kind. Have I misread? Did they mean that Blair pleaded for himself not to serve any jail time? Or maybe they mean Kadima. Or maybe they mean that Israel's Laborites have been led by Likud for some decades now. Or maybe when he led Kadima he was technically Labour's leader. But then if it's all down to technicality, does Israel even have a party called Labour or Labor?

UPDATE: Round about 11:50 am I noticed the reference to "the former Labor leader" had been removed. I searched for a cache version but they seem to have been faffing around with the article so much google cache couldn't keep up. Anyway now they've overhauled the article completely. The curious thing is that the page seems to have gone through at least three changes since I first posted at 9:40 and yet there is no mention of any update and the date and time say 5/5/2015 10:07. Funny people.

Hello Lagos, Nigeria! We are disappointed to report that we will not be
performing at tonight’s concert. From our end, we did everything we were
supposed to do, including waiting at the airport for many hours, ready
to fly out and share the evening with you. Unfortunately, after much
effort, the promoter was not able to get all of our travel arrangements
taken care of. This prevented us from being able to fly into Nigeria in
time to make the concert. We were all very excited to come, and very
disappointed that we couldn’t make this one. HOWEVER, we are working to
reschedule our appearance ASAP. From what we’ve been told, the promoter
intends to honor all tickets sold. Our best to and for Lagos. Love and
Blessings!

Well we see that after scrolling down the home page. The link to that section and its "notes" is actually here.

So now the tweet about Israel:

See that? Nope? That's because there is no tweet about the cancellation of her planned Israel gig.

Dear Friends and Fans in Israel,
When deciding to play the region, my intention was to perform in both
Tel Aviv and Ramallah. Setting up a performance in the Palestinian
Territory, at the same time as our show in Israel, proved to be a
challenge. I’ve wanted very much to bring our live performance to this
part of the world, but also to be a presence supporting justice and
peace. It is very important to me that my presence or message not be
misconstrued, or a source of alienation to either my Israeli or my
Palestinian fans. For this reason, we have decided to cancel the
upcoming performance in Israel, and seek a different strategy to bring
my music to ALL of my fans in the region. May healing, equanimity, and
the openness necessary for lasting resolution and reconciliation come to
this region and its people.
Respectfully,
Ms. Lauryn Hill

I don't want to be the party pooper here because I know many people are excited by this but her statement could have been written by John Kerry. She doesn't mention Palestine, the occupation, zionism, racism, war, segregation, apartheid, refugees, Gaza or ethnic cleansing. It's just some vacuous statement about her Israeli and Palestinian fans. Oh, but it's headed as an address to her Friends and Fans in "Israel". I guess career imperatives prevent her from even lying about having Palestinian friends let alone actually having them.

To be clear this cancellation is some kind of success for BDS but we need these celebs to openly refuse to perform for Israel because it is a pariah state, an illegitimate entity, not because performing for such an entity might be misconstrued by some friend or fan.

May 03, 2015

Sect in Pakistan

From S in Pakistan: "re: your blog on the new Hajj visa form.

Pakistanis routinely add their religion to their CVs when applying for

a
job. Private schools ask parents for the religion of the
students. The form I saw recently for applying for a teacher's position
in govt schools in Punjab asked the religion of the applicant. The
final paperwork for submitting a PhD thesis at Punjab University asks
for religion.

Pakistani
Muslims have been happy enough to ask for or provide religious
affiliation when it benefited Muslims and gave them preference and
advantage over Christians or other communities.